April 5, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.
Hunterdon County 911 Center | 201 Cherryville Road, Flemington, NJ
View the video footage of the press conference here.
Tour of Hunterdon County 911 Center
The New Jersey Association of Counties (NJAC) held a press conference on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, at the Hunterdon County 911 Center urging the United States Congress to adopt the “Report and Recommendations” of the “Ending 911 Fee Diversion Now Strike Force” (911 Strike Force) established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as the State of New Jersey continues to reign as the worst offender of diverting 911 fees in the entire nation.
1. OPENING REMARKS | John Donnadio, NJAC Executive Director
2. WELCOME TO HUNTERDON COUNTY | John Lanza, Hunterdon County Commissioner Director
3. STATE’S CONTINUED DIVERSION OF 911 FEES | Teri O’Connor, NJAC President & Monmouth County Administrator
4. A SYSTEM OF DOUBLE TAXATION | Jonathan Young, NJAC 1st VP & Camden County Commissioner
5. CAPITAL & OPERATIONAL INVESTMENTS | Domenic Villecco, President, NJ Wireless Association
6. PUBLIC SAFETY IN JEOPARDY & 911 STRIKE FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS | Shaun Golden, Monmouth County Sheriff
7. URGING CONGRESS & STATE LEGISLATURE TO ACT
8. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
9. ADJOURN
10. TOUR OF 911 CENTER | Brayden Fahey, Hunterdon County Director of Public Safety & Emergency Management
In addition to laying the foundation for an imminent public safety crisis and imposing an inequitable system of “double taxation” on residents across the Garden State, the 911 Strike Force concluded that:
- 911 fee diversion negatively impacts the ability of the public to access emergency
assistance via reliable 911 services and technology. - 911 fee diversion negatively impacts public safety, 911 operations, first responders, and the
fiscal sustainability of 911 service. - 911 fee receipts and expenditures should be distinguishable and auditable to ensure 911 fees
are used for eligible activities directly related to the provision of 911 services. - 911 systems require significant capital and recurring operational investments to
accomplish the mission.
The 911 Strike Force further concluded that “one of the most recognizable impacts of fee diversion is insufficient resources to support day-to-day operations, which prevents public safety answering points (PSAPs) from achieving and maintaining proper performance and operational service.” Moreover, “911 is a complex system of critical infrastructure that is designed to process emergency communication. The lack of relevant and enhanced technology could be catastrophic and 911 fee diversion may result in: inadequate funding to plan, implement, and transition to NextGen 911 Technologies while simultaneously funding the legacy system until it can be decommissioned; inadequate funding for the integration of emerging technologies such as text-to-911 and wireless location accuracy applications, inadequate funding for the implementation of telecommunicator resources such as integrated call handling protocol software; the inability to maintain or replace end-of-life equipment; and, the lack of integration with key systems and ability to optimize features.“
Local governments as first responders, handle the vast majority of the State’s 911 calls through local PSAPs and have come to inequitably rely on the collection of local property taxpayer dollars to improve, operate, and maintain 911 systems. County governments alone spent an estimated $175.0 million over the last several years on capital improvements for facility upgrades, telephone systems, computer aided dispatch, location mapping technology, voice recording technology, data analytics, and NG911 upgrades. Counties also spend an estimated $100.0 million per year on general operating expenses for salaries, staff training, system maintenance, and network security. With this mind, NJAC fully supports the following remedial recommendations of the 911 Strike Force:
- State agencies that divert 911 fees should be subject to fines, penalties, and be ineligible for public safety spectrum FCC license renewals, modifications, or new licenses until the FCC determines that the diversion has been remediated.
- State agencies that divert 911 fees should be ineligible for federal grant funding that includes 911 as an eligible expense.
- State agencies that divert 911 fees with an obligation to serve as the State Administrative Authority shall pass 100% of the remaining grant funding through to the local agencies after covering authorized administrative costs.
In general, the State of New Jersey collects annually from consumers approximately $126.0 million in telecommunication surcharges as “Telephone Assessment Fees” (Fees) and deposits these monies into the 911 System and Emergency Trust Fund Account (Fund). In fact, the Garden State has collected approximately $1.5 billion in Fees since 2006 with only 11% of Fund monies being spent on eligible expenses. Moreover, the State has failed to provide any funding for eligible expenses to local 911 centers operated by counties and municipalities and is the only state in the nation that doesn’t share 911 monies. Instead, the State has annually diverted over $92.0 million in Fund dollars to cover general operating expenses in the Department of Law and Public Safety. You may review the “Report and Recommendations” of the 911 Strike Force in its entirety at www.fcc.gov.
For the reasons set forth above, NJAC is again urging the United States Congress to adopt the recommendations of the 911 Strike Force to compel the State of New Jersey to comply with federal guidelines and restore critical Fund monies to county and municipal 911 centers.
Contact: John Donnadio, Esq.
Executive Director, New Jersey Association of Counties
150 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08608
Phone: 609-394-3467
Fax: 609-989-8557
jdonnadio@njac.org